Staff Report to Council (Planning) – Bylaw No. 1752, 1776, 1763 and Policy POL0011-PLAN (Fees, Parking & Amenity Contributions)

Background

At the regular meeting of November 6th, 2017, Council gave first reading to Bylaw No. 1752 with respect to off-street parking in the City Centre.

At the regular meeting of January 22nd, 2018, Council directed staff to prepare a bylaw to amend the City’s Development Procedures Bylaw (Bylaw No. 209) by increasing planning related fees commensurate with the cost of living and an increase in Public Hearing fees to reflect the new costs associated with advertising.

On March 12th, the Planning Department sent a letter to the Westshore Developers Association (WSDA) outlining changes to application fees, Development Cost Charges and Amenity Contribution policy. A copy of that letter is attached to this report as Appendix “A”. These topics were discussed with the WSDA at their regular meeting of March 15th, 2018.

At their regular meeting of Tuesday, April 3rd, Council reviewed a Bylaw to amend the Development Cost Charges Bylaw to remove reductions that served to incent certain types of development. That bylaw was given 1st, 2nd and 3rd reading on April 3rd, 2018.

Commentary

Since the January 22nd meeting where Council considered the Planning Department’s five-year financial plan, Staff and Council have met with the West Shore Developers Association to map out changes to both the fee structure and Council’s policy on amenity contributions. The changes to fees and amenity contributions proposed in Bylaw No. 1776 and 1763 and Policy POL0011-PLAN are summarized as:

Application Fees

The following fees would be increased by 2.45%, commensurate with the proposed general tax increase:

• OCP amendment applications;
• Rezoning applications;
• Public Hearings;
• Development Permit and Development Permit amendment applications;
• Development Variance Permit applications;
• Letters of exemption;
• Temporary Use Permit applications;
• Board of Variance applications;
• Building Permit Fees;

Bylaw No. 1763 (attached) would amend the City’s Development Procedures Bylaw No. 209 by increasing all development fees by 2.45%.

At the request of the Chief Building Inspector, Bylaw No. 1763 also proposes a one-time increase in Board of Variance application fees from $71 to $698. The current fee of $71 in no way represents cost recovery for the work undertaken by staff on these applications, and establishing the fee at $698 represents half the cost of an application for variance to Council through the Development Variance Permit process. Board of Variance application fees form part of Bylaw No. 209, and are not considered under the Building Bylaw No. 1160.

Bylaw No. 1763 also removes from Bylaw No. 209 reductions in fees for rezoning and development permits for various types of multi-family and office commercial development that Council had previously been encouraging with this incentive.

Bylaw No. 1776 (attached) would amend the City’s Building Bylaw No. 1160 by increasing all building permit related fees by 2.45%. As above, this amending bylaw also removes all fee reductions which were instituted in 2015 as an incentive for certain types of multi-family and office commercial development.

Parking in the Designated City Centre

Bylaw No. 1752 (attached) was introduced and given first reading last November (2017). This revised version of the bylaw would amend Zoning Bylaw No. 300 by changing the off-street parking requirement for an apartment use in the designated City Centre from “1 parking space per dwelling unit” regardless of the size of the unit, to “1 parking space per one- and two-bedroom dwelling unit; and 2 parking spaces per dwelling unit with more than 2 bedrooms” and increasing the requirement for visitor parking to 0.25 parking spaces per dwelling unit.

As discussed previously, Bylaw No. 1752 also includes amendment to the cash-in-lieu provisions of Zoning Bylaw No. 300 with respect to off-street parking in the City Centre, and includes as a design guideline a provision that would allow variances to be granted with a Development Permit for additional on-street parking provided through alternative design (eg: angle parking v. parking scallops).